Magic Monsters!

Benjamin Bird's Magic Monsters is a short, action-packed Superman story for 6 year olds in which a cheeky magical imp fills Metropolis with monsters.

What happens

Clark Kent is sitting on a bench, smiling at his own name on a newspaper story, when a green dragon flies over and breathes fire on his suit. He ducks into an alley. Out flies Superman!

Behind it all is Mister Mxyzptlk. He's a tiny man in a purple hat who has popped in from the 5th Dimension for one reason only. To annoy Superman!

He hasn't just brought a dragon either. A giant with one eye grabs Superman out of the sky and throws him into a wall. Then a creature with eight tentacles comes slithering towards a boy in the street.

The boy shouts one word. SHAZAM! A bolt of lightning hits him, and suddenly he's a super hero too.

Now it's two against three. And the heroes know there's only one way to send Mxy home. They have to trick him into saying his name backwards. How on earth do you get someone to do that? The answer is very clever, and it's all to do with giving the monsters names.

It's a proper little chapter book, with three very short chapters and loads of big sound words to read out loud (FWOOSH! SMAAASH! KRA-KOOM!). Superman cracks a joke or two ("Talk about dragon breath!"), and there's a small glossary at the end for words like rubble and tentacles.

The action is all cartoon style. Superman gets thrown about and brushes himself off, and the monsters simply vanish at the end.

It's ideal for a young reader who wants to feel grown up reading chapters on their own, and for any child who's super into super heroes. Your reader will probably want to try saying Mxyzptlk backwards (good luck with that!).

What to read next

Want to see Superman team up with someone else? Try Bubble Trouble. This time he joins Aquaman to stop Black Manta, who's floating giant bubbles of seawater (with sharks and lobsters inside) over the city.